Cognizant awards 190% bonus to its top employees

CHENNAI: Buoyed by a stellar performance in 2015, US headquartered Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS), with over one third of its workforce housed in India, has announced a 190% bonus for its top executives.

This is a marked increase from last year's 135%. Bonuses paid at Cognizant have traditionally been in the range of 100%-200%, depending on performance of the company employee. 2015 saw CTS achieving its annual guidance with revenue of $12.4billion, up 21% from 2014. The company raised its guidance three times during the year, asserting its position in he industry in a year that saw its peers finding their way up through a difficult year.

During the December quarters' earnings call Francisco D'Souza, CEO, CTS said, "We are pleased with our strong performance in 2015. At a time when major technology shifts are disrupting all industries, clients are looking to a partner like CTS to work with them to create the winning business models of tomorrow at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds."

In 2014, CTS announced a $2.7 billion buyout of healthcare software company, Trizetto Corp. Riding on its robust healthcare vertical, the company posted industry leading performance, increasing its guidance for 2015 to 19% compared to 16% growth outlook that it had in 2014. Early indications of 2014's variable pay levels emerged in Cognizant's December quarter earnings call when company CFO Karen McLoughlin said, "During the quarter, we adjusted our estimate of 2014 incentive compensation downward to reflect the margin impact of accelerated hiring and other investments." Top performers in 2014 witnessed a fall in variable pay to 135%, much below 2013's 200%.

While CTS met its guidance for 2015 and posted robust numbers for the December quarter in Feb this year, it also predicted its slowest revenue growth in 14 years for the quarter ended March 2016.

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